What will the Mariners do at the winter meetings?

Greg Johns of MLB.com talked with Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik about the upcoming winter meetings in Orlando, Fla., and tried to get a feel for what the team might do.

Jack Zduriencik

The short answer? Nothing big.

“I think it’ll be more of a wait-and-see approach,” Zduriencik told Johns. “We’ll see how things unfold. Our ears are wide open.”

That doesn’t mean the Mariners don’t have some business to attend to when the meetings start Monday.

They could go after a solid free-agent starter, Johns writes. Jeff Francis and Brandon McCarthy could be a good fit.

But overall, Zduriencik seems intent on developing talent from within the organization.

“I’d love for fans to understand that when players get to the major leagues, there’s not a guarantee for instant success,” he told Johns. “There’s a learning curve, whether it’s Saunders, Pineda, Moore, Ackley, Matt Mangini … whoever it might be. It takes time to develop players into bona fide major league guys. That’s a process that takes patience, good drafting, scouting and development.”